Spain's taxes at a glance
| Tax on $50,000 of revenue | 25% to 35% |
|---|---|
| Tax on $100,000 of revenue | 25% to 35% |
| Effective rate at $100,000On profit, after costs of 15% | 33.9% Source: boe.es, checked September 29, 2026. Computed: revenue EUR 87,889, profit EUR 74,706, social security EUR 6,547, income tax EUR 18,800. Close to the 35% line |
| Tax on $250,000 of revenue | Over 35% |
| Tax system | Worldwide |
| Foreign income, new residents | Taxed Source: boe.es, checked September 29, 2026 |
| Social contributions, self-employed | 31.5% Source: boe.es, checked September 29, 2026. Charged on a monthly base chosen within the bracket for the person's expected net income (Orden PJC/297/2026 art. 18 and art. 37): 28.3% common contingencies, 1.3% professional contingencies, 0.9% intergenerational equity, 0.9% cessation of activity and 0.1% training. Minimum bases run from EUR 653.59 to EUR 1,928.10 a month; the maximum base is EUR 5,101.20. New freelancers can pay a flat EUR 80 a month in their first 12 months |
Structure used: Self-employed (autonomo) under simplified direct assessment, resident in the Comunidad de Madrid (lowest regional scale), social security at the minimum base of the net-income bracket, after the first-year flat rate ends. Bands are the effective tax on profit for a remote worker using this structure, with clients abroad and costs of 15% of revenue.
Spain tax residency: the 183-day and economic interests tests
Article 9 of the Spanish income tax law makes you resident for a calendar year in 2 ways. The first is spending more than 183 days in Spain during that year, and sporadic absences still count as days in Spain unless you prove tax residence in another country. The second is having the main center or base of your activities or economic interests in Spain, with no day count at all.
The law also presumes you are resident if your spouse and minor children live in Spain, unless you prove otherwise. And there is no split year: once either test is met, you are resident for the whole calendar year, including the months before you arrived.
The 170-day plan in Spain
Works
You spend 170 days in Spain, keep your home, clients, bank and company in another country that taxes you, and hold that country's residence certificate. Spain has no basis to treat you as resident, and the certificate answers the sporadic absences rule.
Fails
You spend the same 170 days in Spain, but you run your business from Valencia, your main accounts and investments are Spanish, and your partner and children live there. The economic interests test or the family presumption makes you resident, and Spain taxes your worldwide income for the whole year.
Spain income tax rates for 2026
Spain splits income tax into a state half and a regional half, and each region sets its own scale. The table combines the state scale with the Comunidad de Madrid scale, the lowest in the country; in other regions combined top rates reach about 47% to 54%.
Combined state and Comunidad de Madrid income tax rates
| Taxable income (EUR) | About (USD) | Rate on the slice |
|---|---|---|
| €0–€12,450 | $0–$14,166 | 18% |
| €12,450–€13,362.22 | $14,166–$15,204 | 20.5% |
| €13,362.22–€19,004.63 | $15,204–$21,623 | 22.7% |
| €19,004.63–€20,200 | $21,623–$22,984 | 24.8% |
| €20,200–€35,200 | $22,984–$40,051 | 27.8% |
| €35,200–€35,425.68 | $40,051–$40,307 | 31.3% |
| €35,425.68–€57,320.40 | $40,307–$65,219 | 35.9% |
| €57,320.40–€60,000 | $65,219–$68,268 | 39% |
| €60,000–€300,000 | $68,268–$341,340 | 43% |
| Over €300,000 | Over $341,340 | 45% |
The first €5,550 (about $6,310) of income is your personal allowance, taxed at 0%. Dividends, interest and gains sit outside this table on their own savings scale of 19% to 30%, whatever region you live in.
What an autónomo pays: income tax and social security
A freelancer registers as an autónomo and, under simplified direct assessment, is taxed on actual profit: revenue less costs and social security, less a further 5% for hard-to-document costs up to €2,000 (about $2,280) a year.
Social security runs on its own logic. You pay 31.5% of a monthly base that you choose within the bracket for your expected net income, with minimum bases from €653.59 to €1,928.10 (about $744 to $2,190) a month and a ceiling of €5,101.20 (about $5,800). New autónomos can pay a flat €80 (about $91) a month for their first 12 months.
| Revenue | €87,889 (about $100,000) |
|---|---|
| Profit after costs of 15% | €74,706 (about $85,000) |
| Social security31.5% on the minimum base of the income bracket | €6,547 (about $7,450) |
| Taxable incomeAfter social security and the 5% allowance | €66,158 (about $75,300) |
| Income taxState plus Madrid scale | €18,800 (about $21,400) |
| Total tax and social security | €25,347 (about $28,800), 33.9% of profit |
A Madrid resident after the first-year flat rate, paying social security at the minimum base of the bracket. Every other region's scale raises the income tax line.
How Spain taxes foreign income and remote work
Spanish residents are taxed on all income, wherever it arises and whatever the payer's residence. Work done while you live in Spain is taxed in Spain whether your clients are in Madrid or Miami, and a salary from a foreign employer is no different.
The one real exception is the Beckham Law's flat-rate regime, open to remote employees on the telework visa, company directors, certified entrepreneurs and highly qualified startup professionals who were not resident in the previous 5 years. An ordinary freelancer invoicing foreign clients does not qualify, whatever visa they hold.
If Spain and another country both treat you as resident, the tax treaty between them settles it, starting with where you have a permanent home. The certificate of tax residence from the Tax Agency is the proof foreign clients and tax offices ask for.
Filing and reporting in Spain
Your first year as a Spanish tax resident
- Get your foreigner's identity number (NIE), which is also your tax number.
- Register as an autónomo with the Tax Agency and social security before your first invoice, and claim the €80 (about $91) monthly flat rate for your first 12 months.
- If you qualify for the Beckham Law, file form 149 within 6 months of the start date on your social security registration.
- Choose your social security base each year to match your expected net income bracket.
- File the annual return in the spring campaign: for 2025 it ran from April 8 to June 30, 2026, with June 25 the cut-off for payment by direct debit.
- File Modelo 720 if your foreign bank accounts, securities or property pass its reporting threshold.
Ways to move to Spain
| Route | Minimum income or investment | Permit length | Makes you tax resident | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Visa and residence permit for international telework (digital nomad) Source: exteriores.gob.es, checked September 29, 2026Digital nomad visa | €2,442 (about $2,780) a month Source: exteriores.gob.es, checked September 29, 2026. 200% of the 2026 monthly minimum wage of EUR 1,221 (about $1,390), per the Consulate General in Washington. Add 75% of the minimum wage for the first family member and 25% for each further one | Not stated | With enough daysNo tax break for freelancers; remote employees on this visa can opt into the Beckham Law's flat 24% rate. | Open |
| Non-lucrative residence visa Source: exteriores.gob.es, checked September 28, 2026Passive income route | Varies | Not stated | With enough daysNo tax break; holders cannot work and are taxed as normal residents. | Open |
Special tax regimes in Spain
Special regime for inbound workers (art. 93 LIRPF, Beckham Law)
New residents who qualify pay non-resident rules on Spanish-source income for the year of the move and the next 5 years. Employment income is Spanish-source, so a remote employee pays a flat 24% on salary up to EUR 600,000, and most foreign income stays outside Spanish tax. Ordinary freelancers do not qualify.
Open to new applicants. Lasts up to 6 years. Source: boe.es, checked September 29, 2026 Form 149 within 6 months of the start of activity shown in the Spanish social security registration.
Self-employed (autonomo) under simplified direct assessment
The default for a freelancer. Income tax is charged on actual profit at state plus regional progressive rates, and social security is a monthly amount set by the bracket of expected net income.
Open to new applicants. Source: boe.es, checked September 29, 2026
Running your own company from Spain
Moving to Spain changes how a company you own abroad is taxed, even when it stays registered where it is.
How Spain taxes a company you own abroad
| Situation | What Spain taxes | Rule |
|---|---|---|
| Low-taxed foreign company you control | Certain of its income, imputed to you each year | International fiscal transparency, LIRPF art. 91 |
| Company managed and controlled from Spain | The company itself, as a Spanish resident | Effective management, LIS art. 8 |
| Company in a low-tax jurisdiction whose main assets or activity are in Spain | Presumed Spanish resident unless run from abroad for valid business reasons | LIS art. 8 |
| Dividends paid to you | Savings scale of 19% to 30%, with a credit for foreign withholding | LIRPF art. 66 |
Spain's international fiscal transparency rule imputes certain income of controlled, low-taxed foreign companies to their resident owners, so income parked in a zero-tax company can still reach your Spanish return.
The bigger risk for a solo founder is the residence of the company itself. A company is Spanish resident if its effective management is in Spain, and the Tax Agency can presume it for a company in a low-tax jurisdiction whose main assets or activities are in Spain. A foreign company whose only director makes every decision from an apartment in Barcelona fits the first test on its own.
Dividends you then pay yourself are savings income, taxed at 19% to 30% with a credit for tax withheld abroad. The jurisdictions founders incorporate in change the corporate tax, but while you live in Spain the dividend scale and the transparency rule follow you.
David's note
For a solo freelancer moving to Spain, I would rarely keep a foreign company running alongside autónomo registration. Once Spain can treat it as managed from Spain, the company seldom lowers the bill, and it doubles the accounting and the filings.
US citizens living in Spain
The US-Spain income tax treaty, signed in 1990 and amended by a 2013 protocol, does not stop the US taxing its citizens, because treaties generally do not reduce the US tax of US citizens. You still file a US return and claim the foreign tax credit or the 2026 foreign earned income exclusion of $132,900.
Spanish income tax on self-employed earnings is usually higher than the US income tax on the same amount, so the credit tends to clear the US bill. The US-Spain totalization agreement means you pay social security in one country, not both.
No split year in Spain: the arrival date trap
Arriving by July 1 makes your whole year Spanish
Arrive on July 1 and stay, and you pass 183 days by December 31. Spain then taxes your worldwide income for the whole calendar year, including salary and invoices from the months before you moved. Arrive in the autumn instead and that first calendar year stays outside Spanish residence, unless your economic base had already moved.
A tax treaty with the country you left can assign the months before the move back to it, but only if that country also treated you as resident for them, and you have to claim it. Timing the move is the cleaner fix.
The rule works the same way on the way out. Leave in mid-year after more than 183 days in Spain and you stay resident, and taxed on worldwide income, for the whole year you left.
Who Spain suits, and who it does not
Good fit
- Remote employees of foreign companies who can use the Beckham Law: 24% flat on salary and most foreign income outside Spanish tax for 6 years.
- Freelancers earning up to about $100,000 who want EU residence with a low income floor of €2,442 (about $2,780) a month.
- New freelancers, who pay a flat €80 (about $91) a month of social security in their first 12 months.
Poor fit
- High-earning freelancers: combined rates reach 45% in Madrid and more elsewhere.
- Investors with large foreign portfolios outside the Beckham Law, who pay savings rates up to 30% and may face regional wealth tax.
- People who want to spend under 6 months a year there but keep their business base in Spain, which can still make them resident.
Recent tax and visa changes in Spain
Self-employed contribution brackets for 2026 kept at 2025 levels, with the maximum base raised to EUR 5,101.20 and the intergenerational equity rate at 0.9% (Royal Decree-Law 3/2026, Orden PJC/297/2026). boe.es
Minimum wage of EUR 1,221 a month sets the telework visa floor at EUR 2,442 a month for a single applicant. exteriores.gob.es
Startup Law 28/2022 opened the art. 93 regime to remote employees, directors, entrepreneurs and highly qualified professionals, cut the prior non-residence period to 5 years, and created the international telework visa. boe.es
